kevtaylor

My limited experience of fluoro line is that it attracts detritus and sediment and looks awful, needs regular wiping, then attracts it again and so on. TBH it looks so bad I've stayed on Mono ever since.

I was looking at changing baits completely after 15+ years on a custom Aminos bait (you read all the BS about other baits being the ultimate) but spoke to Toni - he suggested the T&G version to combat the silt and weed. I caught from the off, no surprise there, absolutely love the bait - it smells brilliant and being the Aminos base you know its gonna do the business, tried and tested for many many years. Tony is very helpful and doesn't push anything on you, just good advice!

I'm trying Matrix Plus which is Red, alongside my usual Amino Plus T&G - catching on both baits and the mix looks banging.

Not with my casting technique mate - that's all I know. Don't forget that with the Multi your talking about an extremely low pop-up, maybe if it were higher it wouldn't be able to turn and catch under the putty, but it can. Granted it's quite rare that it happens but occasionally it does. A lot of this will depend on how stiff the hooklink is, I know that with the materials I use, big blobs of putty are a no no Urban baits pop-ups stay up for days, hold up a size 4 and only require a small amount of putty, I've tested a lot and these work perfectly for me 👍

IMO you don't want really buoyant pop-ups for the multi rig, having huge blobs of putty makes a definite tangle point. I prefer a reliable medium buoyancy pop-up with a small amount of putty. Just my findings for what its worth. 👍

Mine come fresh ready for freezing, but I have no issue with freezing and re-freezing

Unfortunately not - PM sent lol

First trip out with the Gripz beak points: Unfortunately no weed to contend with on this trip so the interesting part wasn't tried, however six takes six landed, no slippage or damage caused, 3 fish on a single hook, before changed. The successful rig was the KD with a wafter hookbait taking 5 of the fish, the relevance of this I'm not sure of because those 5 came from the left side of the baited spot for whatever reason. All good so far, the trail continues...

I think you've hit on the answer to this IMO How many anglers stick to leads in the 2 - 3.5 oz range, prob 95% plus. Therefore leads outside of the standard range can be harder for them to deal with.

Hopefully these pics will turn out - Gripz size 4 - smaller than others, but very curved in the point.

Yeah sure, hopefully I'll have some feedback pretty soon 👍

I've got some Cryogen's mate but not in the barbless, will have a look at the range again. Made my first rigs with the Pallatrax Grips last night, very happy with them, the beak is very beaked lol and sharp. What I would say is that my size 4's are more like a 6 from other brands, if I'm happy with them I will buy the 2's next time. Buzzing to get started!

Yeah those pre bought things look too long for what I'm doing, so I'd cut them down to suit.

With a hard bottom and small item feeding I'd go with a short rig, whereas if in weed or soft silt I'd go with a lot longer. I guess I'm reminding you to let the spot and baiting decide the rig approach not what everyone else is using. You have to think they are slowly hoovering up small bits of food passing over your spot so a standard 8 - 12 inch rig will get spat nearly every time, whereas a 3 inch will nail them much more often. A spread of boilies would point towards a longer rig. Mix it up on your rods, experiment and learn what works for you. 👍

Line aligner not necessary for a curve shank, but not a bad idea, try it. With any aligner watch you're not closing up the gape too much. Before you decide on rig length or too much - what are you fishing over and what's the baiting application?

Don't be too quick to dismiss your short rig idea, I witnessed a proper haul from a tricky water with the guy using 2 inch rigs - un-coated braid. 2 x 40's, several 30's and a few 20's later there was no doubt that they were not too short to catch fish - maybe it was the edge over everyone else doing very similar things. Keep thinking outside the box fella- if you do the same as everyone expect to catch the same. We have a habit of copying what the others are doing even if they are doing badly or just ticking over with the odd fish. 👍

Thanks everyone - lots of food for thought - appreciated 👍

IMO ditch the fox bead and ring contraption and go with a hybrid lead clip or something different. I've personally used them, they do not offer hardly any bolt effect before they pull apart and become running. If they come apart on the cast you have a tangle right there. Speaking from experience they cost me fish, when bites where hard to come by. Also once used a few times they soften and come apart even easier - no good for bolt effect carping IMO

Cheers mate - the bait comes off on the take no probs (premier), I'd say the hook hold was probably good, the line went eventually - not good. If the management had bought me the boat when I requested it, I wouldnt be asking the question but I obviously cannot rely on them so may well have to slacken off as part of the process. Thanks for the info - I'm looking at wide gapes with maximum beak - I'm told Fox are good, not tried Kranks yet.

Thanks smufter that's brilliant - looks like I'll be giving them a go. I'd probably choose the beaked point over straight - any thoughts on that?

Great thanks I'm just looking at these. Would be good to get some opinions from anyone who's used them. 👍

Can anyone recommend barbless hooks that stay in well? I'm starting on a very weedy lake with a barbless rule. Lost a fish in heavy weed on sunday morning 1st overnighter and I feel like I need a pretty special hook for this situation, the stakes are high and I may well need to slackened off to get the fish moving again, so I want a beak point or better if such a hook exists. I'm going down the bottom bait route, so a curve shank or wide gape style hook that I can fish blowback with a ring or silicon. Sized 4 Any recommendations welcome - thanks 👍

There is a knack to getting the back leads out further, as Yonny says to the drop-off. I clip them on, then lift the rod higher and higher gradually (vertical) to get the lead slowly moving out along the surface, maybe 5 rod lengths, then lower it down to the bottom, you can probably achieve up to 5 lengths (a guess). You don't want back leads under the rod tips if the water depth drops a few rod lengths out, it would achieve nothing good.